Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity
Optimus Primal has saved the Maximals, Earth, history, humanity, the universe, the Autobots, Cybertron, the Transformers, and the Alternity. Not bad for a minor starship captain, huh?
Timelines
Optimus Primal was a veteran of the last Great War, one waged between the Maximals and the Predacons. He was a distinguished graduate of the Maximal Military Academy, where he was a diligent student of the accomplishments of past generations, both militaristic and scientific. Optimus Primal's bio
Captain of the ship Axalon, Optimus Primal and his crew had been stuck on a space station for weeks while awaiting additional cargo. Finally, they were leaving and ready to return to embarking on their mission of exploration, but the Maximal Defense Command Center had a different idea. The Golden Disk had been stolen by Megatron and a group of rogue Predacons, and Optimus Primal's ship was closest to intercept.
They closed in on Megatron's stolen ship, the Darksyde, but the Axalon suddenly came under attack by a second Predacon ship. The odds were evened again by the arrival of another Maximal ship, the Chromia 10, which was crewed by its Maximal owner and Unit 2, a member of the Maximal Command Security Force. Both of these ships were ultimately destroyed, but Primal ordered the Maximals on board the Chromia 10 be downloaded into blank stasis pods to save their lives. The Axalon subsequently resumed its pursuit of the Darksyde.
Via transmission, Megatron taunted Optimus Primal and his crew. The Darksyde opened a transwarp portal and jumped through. The Axalon followed. Dawn of Future's Past
Beast Wars cartoon
- Voice actor: Garry Chalk (English), Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Zhang Wenyu (Chinese), Guilherme Lopes (Portuguese), Ben Hecker (German), Pascal Renwick (French), Riccardo Lombardo (Italian), Mario Sauret (Latin American Spanish), Juan Luis Rovira (Castilian Spanish)
Optimus Primal was the captain of the exploration ship Axalon. Beast Wars (Part 1) He and his crew were ordered to dispose the experiment gone wrong, Protoform X, Bad Spark who was brought in by Primal's coworker, Depth Charge. Depth Charge wanted X destroyed, but the High Council ordered Primal's crew to dump Protoform X someplace far away and with minimal life. Depth Charge became resentful against Primal for this. Deep Metal
On the way, they were tasked with pursuing the Predacon criminal Megatron, who had stolen the Golden Disk and a transwarp-capable ship. In pursuit, the Axalon passed though a transwarp portal to a strange world. During the ensuing space battle, both ships were damaged and Primal ordered the stasis pods carrying the rest of the crew to be ejected into orbit before the Axalon crashed.
The planet was rich with raw energon—so much that prolonged exposure would short out their bodies—so the Maximals and Predacons were forced to take organic forms from local creatures. Primal took the form of a silverback gorilla, remarking that his new form was "interesting" upon exit from the CR chamber. During their first skirmish with the Predacons, Optimus ordered Rattrap to retrieve the pinned-down Cheetor. Rattrap refused, resulting in Optimus having to rescue Cheetor himself—as he later said, he wouldn't give someone an order he wouldn't be able to carry out himself.
On their return to base, Optimus was challenged to a duel by the estranged Predacon Dinobot for leadership of the Maximals. Beast Wars (Part 1) When talking sense to Dinobot didn't work, Optimus engaged him in combat. The other Predacons took this as an opportunity to attack, and Optimus risked his own life to save Dinobot from falling to his death. Dinobot repaid the favor during a later battle atop a mountain, by deflecting a missile fired at Primal by Megatron. Although the huge energon cache on the mountaintop exploded, everyone survived, and Optimus announced the start of the "Beast Wars". Beast Wars (Part 2)
"Blame Rattrap".
Optimus's men would often try his patience, such as when Cheetor's impulsive actions lead to an experimental comlink being destroyed. When the young Maximal left base in secret to try to put things right, the other Maximals covered for him when Primal asked where he was. The Web This perhaps led to Optimus scrubbing another of Cheetor's missions to install monitoring devices, though, again, the cat went out anyway. When lightning struck one of the devices and set up a two-way teleport between the Maximal and Predacon bases, Dinobot was able to persuade Optimus to send a bomb through, though Primal insisted on setting the timer to give the Predacons enough time to get to safety. Cheetor, meanwhile, had discovered that a common energon vein ran beneath both bases—an explosion at one would destroy both—and quickly got rid of the bomb. Optimus later lectured him on obeying orders, but Cheetor didn't seem too concerned. Equal Measures
After a battle at the Standing Stones resulted in an alien signal being broadcast into space, an alien probe absorbed Primal's form. Optimus was still functional and aware, and able to contact the Axalon to cut off the Maximals squabbling over selecting a new leader, nominating Rattrap to be in charge. An attempt by Rhinox to build a device to free Primal failed, but Waspinator inadvertently caused the probe to expel the Maximal leader. Optimus later commended Rattrap on his leadership. Chain of Command
Terrorsaur's discovery of a flying mountain laced with high-energy energon resulted in Optimus facing the super-powered Predacon in combat, and almost lost before Terrorsaur had to recharge. As Rattrap's bombs destroyed the mountain, Optimus leapt to safety with the rat on his back. Power Surge When the first stasis pod crashed to the ground, Optimus set out first, being the Maximal's only flier, but no sooner had he left the Axalon than he was ambushed and badly damaged by Waspinator and Terrorsaur. Ensconced in a CR Chamber, Optimus's core consciousness was accessed by Dinobot, who took Primal's advice to set up a laser link. Dinobot was disabled by a Predacon attack, but Optimus himself was able to use the laser to link to the pod and command it to reformat the protoform inside. Repaired, Primal flew to the battlefield and greeted the new Maximal, Tigatron. Fallen Comrades
After a particularly nasty ambush, during which Primal was shot down and the Predacons escaped with another stasis pod, Optimus hit on a new plan—faking Rattrap's defection in order to find out how the Predacons had been constantly warned of their plans in advance. Later, Optimus explained the plan to the other Maximals, who'd been left in the dark. Double Jeopardy After the unveiling of Rhinox's new defense system, Optimus and Tigatron went hunting for some Predacons it had detected. While chasing Waspinator, Primal became aware something was up back at base, and returned to find that a "malfunction" had caused the defense system to chase the Maximals out. As it later appeared that Rattrap's attempt to disarm the system had resulted in his death, the Maximals eulogized him, but it turned out he was still alive, after all. A Better Mousetrap
Out on a specimen-gathering mission with Dinobot, Optimus took the opportunity to give the ex-Predacon a lesson in not underestimating flora. Unfortunately, they were soon attacked by Scorponok, who managed to attach a Cyberbee to Optimus before being driven off. The Cyberbee injected Optimus with a virus intended to turn him into a coward, but resulted in the opposite effect, turning him berserk with rage. Rhinox quickly determined that removing it would kill Optimus and cause it to explode, removing that option from consideration. Optimus ordered himself locked up, as he was a danger to himself and everyone around him. With time to think, he came up with a plan to take the Predacons by surprise, persuading Cheetor to release him. He then fell into a craze, leaving the Axalon and making a beeline for the Predacon base. After ripping through the rest of the Predacons, he confronted Megatron, who attempted to bargain but ended up instead with the Cyberbee stuck to his back. Cheetor was able to administer the anti-viral to Optimus in time to save him, and Megatron and Scorponok were caught at ground zero during the Cyberbee explosion. Gorilla Warfare
During an attempt to contact a passing Maximal temporal probe, Optimus was locked in his beast mode by Tarantulas's transformation lock lens and almost killed by Megatron, but Rhinox saved his life. As Optimus was poised to enter the code to signal the transwarp probe, the Predacons finally succeeded in destroying the communications array, dashing the Maximals' hopes for a rescue. The Probe After a spycam planted in the Predacon base showed the result of an apparently disastrous mutiny had wiped out the Predacons, the Maximals salvaged a transwarp cell from the Predacon ship. Although the Axalon was made ready to launch, Dinobot, who had elected to stay behind, stumbled on the concealed Predacons. The launch unable to be aborted, Optimus ordered the Maximals take off with or without him, and went to rescue Dinobot. As it turned out, Optimus was unable to get aboard before take off, being shot from the entry port by one of Scorponok's missiles. The Axalon was subsequently sent crashing again when Megatron trashed the controls. Optimus used his jetpack to slow the plummeting ship and allow it to land relatively safely. Victory
After another Predacon defeat, Rhinox was kidnapped by Tarantulas and turned into a Predacon by Megatron's Transmuter. Though the other Maximals wanted to rescue their friend, Optimus had them hold back, knowing that Rhinox would wreak havoc in the Predacon ranks. He only gave the order to attack once Megatron discovered that Rhinox had been undermining the Predacon cause. During the ensuing battle within the Predacons' ship, he managed to slice off one of Megatron's arms. Dark Designs A fake Dinobot sent Optimus out on a wild goose chase to find Rattrap. By the time the Maximals got back, the real Dinobot had eaten the fake one, much to their disgust. Double Dinobot When Rhinox and Cheetor brought Airazor online, they took her back to base to meet Optimus and the others. The Spark
Optimus headed out to rescue Tigatron, after the Maximal was ambushed while radioing base, only to find Tigatron had gone missing. The Maximals soon received a Cyberbee, reprogrammed with a message from Tigatron showing the flying island he'd found. The Trigger, Part 1 Optimus headed for the island with Rattrap on his back, the pair scuffling with Terrorsaur and Waspinator on the way. On the island, the Maximals desperately tried to head off Blackarachnia, but were unable to prevent her from taking over the island's control center. Fortunately, Tigatron's destruction of the island's power source saved both the Axalon and the Maximals. The Trigger, Part 2
Optimus was running a strategic simulation when a magna pulse triggered by Tarantulas knocked out the Axalon's power systems. He headed out to warn the others and was in time to save Tigatron from Inferno by blasting the new Predacon to pieces. Spider's Game Another gambit saw the Predacons stealing the rectifier coil from the Maximal base, effectively trapping the Maximals in their beast modes. Overcome by bestial instincts, the Maximals wandered off into the jungle, and it was only through Tigatron's intervention that they were able to delete the blocks separating their robot and beast psyches. Call of the Wild
After a group of Maximals were blinded by an energon explosion and trekked most of the way back to the base, Optimus arrived shortly after they'd fought off Terrorsaur and Waspinator, and gone into status lock. He was able to take them back to base for repairs. Dark Voyage During a storm, the Axalon was badly damaged, leaving it open to attack, and attack the Predacons did. With the aid of a Starscream-possessed Waspinator, they drove the Maximals out into the jungle. As Starscream was left in charge of the Axalon, the Maximals surrendered as part of a plan to retake the base. Optimus easily escaped his bonds and recovered the Maximals' weapons, before defeating Starscream in combat and allowing Blackarachnia to deliver the coup de grâce. Possession
Rattrap and Dinobot's habitual bickering finally came to a head when it resulted in Rhinox being hit with a new Predacon weapon, an energon discharge virus. Optimus sent the pair out to find an antidote, hoping that they would learn to work together. When this didn't get immediate results, he announced a frontal attack, and the Maximals arrived at Tarantulas's lab in time to help Dinobot and Rattrap recover the antidote. The Low Road Snowstalker's death as the result of a battle motivated Tigatron to abandon the Maximal cause. Optimus lectured him that while they were on the planet, they had a duty to protect it from the Predacons. Dinobot and Optimus were subsequently defeated by the team of Terrorsaur, Waspinator and Inferno, leading Tigatron to lend a hand and rejoin the Maximal team. Law of the Jungle
When Inferno discovered evidence of the Vok's imminent arrival, Megatron called a truce, to which Primal reluctantly agreed. Curious as to what was up, Optimus had Tigatron invade the Predacon base and find out what Megatron knew, and they discovered that the aliens behind the strange anomalies were on their way. Before the Storm While investigating a newly created Vok installation, Primal was tortured and captured by the aliens, who spoke to him in the form of Unicron, and told him of their plans to "sterilize" the planet. He was barely able to escape before the construct sent a signal to one of the planet's moons, triggering an activation sequence. Other Voices, Part 1
Returning to the Axalon, Primal found that Tarantulas and Blackarachnia has turned a stasis pod into an escape ship in order to flee the doomed planet. As the planet's second moon was converted into a Planet Buster, Primal took the ship to do battle with the superweapon, against the objections of his crew. Primal planned to detonate the ship's transwarp cell when in range of the weapon, after ejecting to safety. The plan worked—with the exception of the "ejecting" part. Megatron remotely seized control of the vessel, overriding Primal's ejection commands. The Predacon commander taunted Primal as he futilely beat his fists against the pod, until the detonation obliterated the pod, the Planet Buster, and Primal, reducing them all to so much space junk. Other Voices, Part 2
Rhinox used a device to guide his core consciousness through the Matrix, retrieving Optimus Primal's spark and implanting it into a blank protoform. Reborn with a new Transmetal body, Optimus came to the aid of his troops as they were on the verge of defeat. Silverbolt, a newly online Fuzor, took the opportunity to apply for the Maximal ranks by taking out Megatron just as the Predacon leader was about to destroy Optimus. Once the greetings were done, Optimus turned to Rattrap and requested the rodent remove his stuff from the commander's quarters. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)
Optimus would later submit himself to a battery of tests, as Rhinox attempted to find out the limitations of the new Transmetal forms. Tangled Web After an attempt by Dinobot to switch sides back to the Predacons, Optimus accepted his apology and left the final decision of whether Dinobot would stay with them to Rattrap, who agreed to let him stay. Maximal, No More When Rhinox worked out that another alien site was located in an area Tigatron and Airazor were patrolling, Optimus set out to warn them, but was too late to prevent them being apparently shot into space. The plants in the area subsequently grew into another alien construct, which knocked out everyone present with an energy wave. Other Visits (Part 1) Though the Transmetals recovered quickly, Megatron was able to use the Golden Disk to take control of the construct, taking Optimus as a prisoner. Rattrap managed to get on board and free Optimus, allowing the Maximal leader to engage Megatron in a violent combat while Rattrap sabotaged the ship. Everyone was able to get clear before the ship exploded, and Optimus resolved that they would get Airazor and Tigatron back somehow. Other Visits (Part 2)
After the discovery of a stasis pod containing Protoform X, Optimus explained the background of the Maximal experiment to Cheetor. The pair were damaged when a fight with the Predacons ignited an energon deposit beneath the pod and the Maximals were forced to return to base. Repairs were made, and the pair were able to return to the field in time to rescue Blackarachnia and Silverbolt from Protoform X, who was later named Rampage. Bad Spark Optimus and all of the Maximals mourned the loss of Dinobot, after he was killed defending a valley of Protohumans from the Predacons. Code of Hero The discovery of a strangely-mutated Transformer was tainted when it was subsequently destroyed in a fight between Silverbolt and Rampage. Transmutate
The transwarp wavefront from the Planet Buster's destruction finally reached Cybertron and help arrived, but in the unexpected form of Ravage, who had come to arrest Megatron for his crimes against the Pax Cybertronia. Despite Rattrap's misgivings, Optimus agreed to assist Ravage, and after storming the Predacon base, they captured Megatron. The Agenda (Part 1) Primal was forced to chastise new recruit Silverbolt for his dangerous relationship with Blackarachnia, sending Cheetor out to retrieve the arachnid. After Silverbolt decked Cheetor and went out in his stead, Optimus and Cheetor went to fetch some energon from one of Tarantulas's stashes, only to be ambushed by Inferno. The fight effectively ended when Inferno ignited the energon, blowing himself and the cave up. On their way back to the Axalon, Optimus and Cheetor received some unpleasant news—Ravage had changed sides and teamed up with Megatron. The Agenda (Part 2)
The Predacons began an assault on the Maximal base, with Primal and Cheetor pinned down outside. The assault failed, thanks mainly to the efforts of Rattrap, and the Maximals set off in pursuit of Megatron. As it turned out, Megatron had found the Ark, the then-resting place of the Autobots and Decepticons and, despite their efforts, Megatron was able to gain entry and shoot Optimus Prime in the head. As Megatron gloated, a timestorm raged, threatening to erase the Maximals from existence. The Agenda (Part III)
In a desperate gambit, Optimus Primal took Optimus Prime's spark into himself to protect it while repairs were effected on his body. The presence of the extra spark caused Primal's body to mutate and grow larger, gaining new jet and ground vehicle modes along with his gorilla form. Megatron sardonically dubbed his new body as "Optimal Optimus". Despite the new power, he was unable to stop the Predacons from trashing the Axalon. Optimus Prime's spark was returned to its rightful home, preserving history, but Primal retained his new form. With Megatron now desperate to end the war at any cost, Primal was forced to move his Maximals into the volcano where the Ark lay. Optimal Situation
Depth Charge arrived on the planet in search of Rampage, encountering Cheetor. By the time Optimus reached their position, Rampage had thoroughly beaten the new arrival, and Optimus took him back to base for repairs. Depth Charge rebuffed Primal's offer to let him join the Maximals, making it clear he wasn't impressed with the mess Optimus had made of things. Deep Metal Primal came up with a new plan to salvage Sentinel from the wreck of the Axalon by sending Rattrap down in a subaquatic stealth vessel. Depth Charge's interference resulted in the Predacons gaining Sentinel instead. After Primal chewed him out, Depth Charge said he'd consider the offer to join the Maximals. Changing of the Guard
After Chak and Una were separated from their tribe, Optimus assigned Cheetor and Blackarachnia, by now part of the Maximal ranks, to return them. Optimus and Silverbolt provided reinforcement when the group ran into a squad of cyber raptors engineered by Megatron, but Tarantulas's new cyber venom disabled the Maximal leader for the duration of the battle. He did prove to have a lovely singing voice when Rattrap contacted him, though. Cutting Edge Optimus was injured again during another battle to save a stasis pod, and was forced to return to base. Cheetor, despite Optimus's orders to wait for backup, went in alone, and was apparently destroyed while retrieving a Transmetal driver from Megatron's cloning machine. Anguished, Optimus blamed himself for Cheetor's death.
Cheetor, however, was not dead, and stumbled back to base. Feral Scream Part 1 After Cheetor was apparently spirited away by a savage feline monster during the night, Primal demanded the truth as to what happened from Depth Charge. Cheetor again returned to base, claiming that he'd destroyed the monster, but Optimus, suspecting the truth, insisted on viewing the remains. Cheetor was finally forced to admit that the monster was himself—the surge from the Transmetal driver had altered his form. Cheetor's new beast form turned out to be feral, and it was only through Optimus's coaxing that he was able to tame it. Feral Scream Part 2
Optimus and Rhinox discussed the possibility of removing Blackarachnia's Predacon shell program, causing her to flee when she overheard them talking. When they caught up to her, Primal explained that the decision to remove the shell program would always be hers to make. Proving Grounds After Una was kidnapped by Waspinator, Optimus instructed Cheetor to return to base for repair and sent Rattrap and Depth Charge to mount a rescue. Go with the Flow Blackarachia attempted to use the Transmetal driver to upgrade herself, but only ended up beginning the degradation of her shell program. While Rhinox worked to separate the Predacon shell program, Optimus and the rest of the Maximals defended the Ark from a Predacon attack, but to no avail—the power was interrupted and Blackarachnia apparently killed. Luckily, she was resurrected as a Transmetal 2 and Primal later pointed out that out that her immediately rushing out to save Silverbolt wasn't a very Maximal thing to do. Crossing the Rubicon
Drawn out of the Maximal base by Waspinator, Optimus was hit by a dart fired by Tarantulas, which burrowed inside him and allowed Quickstrike to take control. Primal was forced to watch helplessly as his body was used to subjugate the Maximals and allow Megatron to take the original Megatron's spark in emulation of Primal's feat with Optimus Prime's spark. Blackarachnia was able to free Optimus from Quickstrike's control, and the Maximal leader subsequently fought at length with the newly upgraded Megatron. The rest of the Maximals were released from their imprisonment in time to help him drive the Predacon off. Master Blaster
The tide was finally turned when the Vok combined Airazor and Tigatron into the mighty Tigerhawk, who obliterated the Predacon base. Optimus immediately traveled to the site, concerned that the destruction of the original Megatron's spark would endanger history. While attempting to reason with Tigerhawk, the Vok emissary plunged Optimus into the ground before being captured by Tarantulas. Following Tarantulas's destruction, Tigerhawk accepted Optimus's offer to rejoin the Maximals. Other Victories
Pursuing Megatron, Optimus discovered what Tarantulas had found—the ancient Decepticon warship, the Nemesis. He and Tigerhawk headed for the ship's location by air, encountering a massive explosion caused by Depth Charge terminating Rampage. Optimus believed that the Nemesis had been dealt with, until the ship itself rose out of the ocean. Nemesis Part 1 At Tigerhawk's instruction, Primal left him to face the Nemesis alone, and returned to the Ark to start a new plan to try to get the ship online. The Maximals were unable to do so before the Nemesis arrived and turned a tractor beam on the Ark, so Primal himself flew up to the ship, pulling off his own wing and jamming it in the gears of the ship's pulverizer so that he could get aboard. He began duking it out with Megatron on the bridge of the Nemesis, despite the knowledge he was no match for two Megatrons.
By continuing the hopeless battle, Optimus managed to buy the Maximals the time they needed, and Rhinox took out Megatron by flying a borrowed Autobot shuttle through the bridge of the Nemesis. As the ship began its descent, Optimus reached out to Dinobot, who had regained some measure of his old self, but the warrior insisted on satisfying honor by going down with the ship, and so Optimus left before the ship crashed.
With the captured Predacon leader strapped to the roof of the Autobot shuttle, the Maximals at last headed home. Leaving the planet and memorializing his fallen comrades, Optimus Primal declared that the Beast Wars were over. Nemesis Part 2
Transformers Legends anthology
Following the explosion of the Planet Buster, Optimus Primal found himself in Maccadam's Old Oil House, where he encountered Optimus Prime, an Optimus Prime from a different universe, and a future version of himself. The four of them were able to overcome the alternate Prime's doubts about his leadership, before they all returned to the time streams from whence they came. Optimus Primal repeated the whole thing again much later, after his destruction facing Megatron in the Council Citadel on Cybertron. Prime Spark
Much later, while angsting over the way the Predacons had used him to access the Ark, Optimus Primal failed to notice Quickstrike flying overhead to deliver a device to the Maximal base. He was alerted a short time later when the device whipped up tensions in the Maximal ranks, causing them to fight amongst themselves. Primal fell prey to it for a brief period of time, but his recent experiences with mind control enabled him to overcome it and he was able to free his fellow Maximals from its grip before leading them in fighting off Megatron. A Meeting of Minds
3H comics
- Voice actor: Garry Chalk (English)
Some time after Optimus Primal's rebirth as a Transmetal, Antagony arrived on prehistoric Earth in search for an artifact. Optimus was called in to assist the other Maximals in subduding the Predacon. She eventually ran out of power and collapsed. Before he could have a look at the mysterious assailant, Optimus was knocked out by Megatron, who abducted Antagony. Visitations
When another traveler from Antagony's time came, Megatron engineered a battle between his Predacons and Optimus Primal's Maximals so that he could personally investigate. Realizing Megatron's intentions, Optimus followed him into a cavern that contained Unicron's Dark Essence. The time traveler, Windrazor, was soon possessed by the Dark Essence, and it used its powers to play with both Maximal and Predacon alike. However, thanks to the Cub and the Veteran within Windrazor, the Dark Essence was expelled, but the future possessor of the Dark Essence, Shokaract, arrived right after from the 32nd century. Paradox The Maximals' efforts against Shokaract were of little consequence and Optimus Primal in particular had a hole blasted in his chest, although he survived. Optimus watched as many warriors from various timelines and dimensions, such as Apelinq and the Covenant, arrived to Point Omega to battle the threat. While the Covenant battled the Dark Essence within Shokaract, Optimus Primal joined the others on the physical plane in distracting the demigod; with Shokaract's attention elsewhere, the Covenant were successful at separating the Dark Essence from Shokaract, destroying the warlord's timeline and erasing the battle and its build-up from existence in the process. Terminus
Some time after his return to Cybertron and his subsequent reformatting, Optimus Primal recovered the Depolyer combat drones with Nightscream. They were cornered by Tank Drones, but were saved with the intervention of Ramulus, who had a dislike of Optimus for "abandoning" him on Earth, and Primal Prime. He soon met with Apelinq, whom he felt a familiarity with and who explained Point Omega and their presence to Optimus. They all went before the Oracle, and Optimus Primal met the Dinobots and the Mutants. He was elated at the existence of more free Cybertronians, but the Oracle deemed that he had seen too much and wiped Optimus Primal and Nightscream's memories of the others. The Oracle ordered Apelinq to return them to their base, which he did so. Departure
As the denizens of post-Vehicon Cybertron just began to settle into their peaceful, technorganic world that Optimus Primal had given his life to create, Unicron unexpectedly struck from afar. He teleported several Transformers into himself, a handful of the countless victims across the multiverse whom he pitted against each other in order to harvest their energon radiation and, eventually, sparks. Damaged in some unknown battle and trapped between dimensions, Unicron sought to revitalize himself in this fashion.
Deep within Cybertron, Primus and Alpha Trion summoned Optimus Primal back from the dead and sent him on a raid to free Unicron's captives. Abduction Once inside the Chaos-Bringer, he found allies in the form of a Grimlock and even a Megatron from variant timelines. OTFCC Live-Action Drama He also found himself discolored by sinister radiation that threatened not only his body, but also his spark. Nevertheless, he was quite successful in his mission, battling Unicron's Minions until he had freed dozens of abductees. Then, still within Unicron, he sent them back to their home dimensions by the power of prayer.
Returning to Cybertron, Primal was glad for his victory, but he wondered if his own resurrection could bring about Megatron's return as well. Escape More pressingly, Primal was unable to convince the Maximal High Council that any of this was actually happening, so he ended up turning to the dead for new troops. Primus gave him a selection of fallen warriors to choose from, and he picked Rhinox and Depth Charge. They were to launch more raids within Unicron while an orbital defense platform was being constructed above Cybertron. But Depth Charge refused to take part in more violence, so Alpha Trion took a cue from Unicron and transported Omega Prime into their universe to fight in his place. Homecoming
Optimus Primal took Omega Prime and others on raids within Unicron's internal "prison cities", freeing more captives. Primal then embarked on an even more proactive venture, leading teams to other universes in anticipation of Unicron's strikes and setting up defensive measures before the Chaos-Bringer could gather more victims. Despite gaining more followers in this process, Primal and other veterans were being worn down by Unicron's corruptive influence. Certainly, those who had been abducted and reformatted by Unicron were affected, but some (such as Primal himself) who had been exposed to Unicron's nanotech virus and its accompanying radiation were also suffering. In order to avert madness and death, Primus reformatted Primal and several of his comrades. Not only was his new form immune to the virus and radiation, but it also possessed the Matrix of Purification, which could heal others of Unicronian corruption.
Months passed as the competing armies grew, their battles raging on a level comparable to the Great Wars. Cybertron itself remained stable, but only for a time. The planet fell victim to a massive invasion, later called "the Culling", in which Unicron's Minions swept across the globe in a killing frenzy, with the sparks of their victims feeding the Chaos-Bringer. Primal's army fended the invaders off, but, in the chaotic aftermath, Primal's earlier fears were realized as Megatron returned to lead the Predacons back to glory. He initially fought Primal, but he eventually called a truce to better face their common foe. Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal's bio
Continued raids saved many more captives and brought the Minions to near-defeat. Then as one raiding party including Primal and Omega Prime battled their way out, Unicron suddenly began to disappear. The raiders rapidly teleported away, but Omega Prime did not materialize with the rest. He was pulled in mid-teleport by Over-Run into the Cybertron of the Unicron Singularity, which had been the cause of the Unicron-war Unicron's disappearance. Presumably Optimus Primal made it back to his own universe safely, but this is unconfirmed. Revelations Part 2
Wings Universe
In another universe, another Apelinq had visions of the great battle known as Point Omega. He saw Optimus Primal, whom he did not recognize. Apelinq's Personal Journal
IDW Beast Wars comics
Though the Axalon's onboard computers originally suggested that Optimus Primal take on a bat as an alternate mode, he knew that such a form would be insufficient to combat Megatron. Optimus Primal chose a more powerful gorilla form instead. Beast Wars Sourcebook
As Magmatron surveyed various events of the Beast Wars, he witnessed several key moments involving Optimus Primal. Among them was Optimus's duel with Dinobot on the stone bridge leading to the Maximal base, and the events leading to Optimus's transformation into the Optimal Optimus body. The Gathering #1
Some time after Depth Charge arrived on Earth, Optimus somehow felt the presence of Razorbeast, Optimus Minor, and Snarl as they sneaked aboard the Ark, even though they were chronically displaced. Optimus explained to Rhinox and Cheetor that he felt something familiar, yet wrong... Unable to feel the presence as Optimus did, Rhinox convinced him that he was simply "chasing ghosts". The Gathering #3
Ain't No Rat
Beast Machines cartoon
- Voice actor: Garry Chalk (English), Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Guilherme Briggs (Portuguese), Alfonso Ramírez (Latin American Spanish), Juan Carballido (Castilian Spanish), Tilo Schmitz (German), Simone Mori (Italian)
Seemingly minutes after the shuttle departed for transwarp space, Optimus Primal suddenly found himself back in his original, organic gorilla body and thrust into a dangerous situation on an eerily deserted Cybertron, unfamiliar with how he arrived there and pursued by an army of Tank Drones. Unable to transform, he was forced to flee in his ape mode and began experiencing visions, which lead him one-by-one to Rattrap, Cheetor, and Blackarachnia, before leading them to a chamber deep within Cybertron—the access point for the powerful and legendary Oracle. As the other three Maximals watched, Primal entered into the bowels of the computer, within which he was granted visions he could not yet comprehend, including the prophetic statement that "the seeds of the future lie buried in the past". Reformatted by the Oracle, Primal emerged in a new, technorganic beast mode and urged the other dying Maximals to complete their "reformatting" as well. Shortly after this was achieved, the group was attacked by an underground army of Cycle Drones. During the ensuing fight, Primal plunged into a deep pit, but as he fell, was able to master the "art" of transformation and regain his robot mode. Flying out, Primal grabbed the nearest drone and demanded answers, but lost his concentration, causing him to revert to beast mode. The Reformatting
Primal began to teach the three other Maximals the lost art of transformation, which was mastered by achieving an inner calmness and finding their spiritual centers. Though Cheetor and Blackarachnia were successful right off the bat, Rattrap was unable to transform at all. The search for answers lead them to the Council Citadel, where Optimus encountered the mastermind behind the empty Cybertron—Megatron! Megatron claimed he had united Cybertron into one unified machine controlled by his mind, and purged his beast form from himself, however the combination of the Maximals besting his Vehicon drones and Optimus's goading increased Megatron's rage until he involuntarily transformed into his dragon mode. Recovering quickly, Megatron gloated that he had done away with the millions of Transformers inhabiting the planet, and Optimus demanded to know what he'd done with them all. Primal had to be dragged physically from the Citadel by the other Maximals, yelling Megatron's name as he went. Later, Optimus told the others that he blamed his own failure to stop Megatron for the downfall of Cybertron. Master of the House
Investigation of the Cybertron Archives revealed that they'd been erased clean. Optimus was so furious, he singlehandedly trashed an entire phalanx of tank drones, and later lectured his troops for their poor performance in combat. When Rattrap and Blackarachnia risked their own lives consulting the logs on the shuttle they arrived in, only to be attacked by Megatron's new Vehicon generals, Optimus came to their aid with Cheetor, but was even more furious at the loss of the ship and the fact they'd endangered themselves. Fires of the Past With the memories of Silverbolt and Rhinox reawakened, Optimus promised to find their lost friends. Sensing a spark, Optimus led his men on a search, only for them all to be captured when Rattrap used a transformation enhancer to transform, alerting the Vehicons to their location. Taken to the Citadel, the Maximals were able to break free. Primal reached out to Tankor's spark, turning the Vehicon general to their side so that he helped them escape the building. Unfortunately he didn't remain their ally for long, as Megatron was subsequently able to erase his memory and lock Optimus out. Optimus told the others that he had sensed something... familiar about the Vehicon's spark. Mercenary Pursuits
The Maximals discovered that someone had survived Megatron's planet-wide purge, a Maximal named Nightscream who seemed to suffer from the same transformation lock virus that the Maximals had upon arrival. Nightscream led them to an underground tree he had been living off. Optimus told the other Maximals they should eat the fruit, but the fruit caused their beast instincts to overtake them. Complicating things, Jetstorm picked this moment to attack. The Maximals snapped out of it when Cheetor destroyed the tree. Following the battle, Primal showed a new talent granted by the Oracle, reformatting Nightscream into a new, technorganic body. Optimus was critically weakened by the effort and requested the over-eager Cheetor to take command in his absence. Forbidden Fruit
During his rest, the other Maximals managed to drive Rattrap to Megatron's side. Optimus later convinced Rattrap to rejoin his friends, and reminded the others not to underestimate their comrade's strength in the face of adversity. The Weak Component The hunt for what happened to the inhabitants of Cybertron took another step when the Maximals discovered the empty shells of hundreds of Transformers, their sparks torn out. Inevitably Vehicon drones arrived and a battle began. The other Maximals became separated from Blackarachnia and were forced to search for her, even as it became obvious that the factory they were in was on the verge of exploding. After the found her, Optimus froze at the sight of the desparked bodies, anguished at all he'd allowed Megatron to do, and Cheetor was forced to take command from him in order to mount a retreat. As they fled, Blackarachnia revealed that the Vehicon Generals contained the sparks of their missing comrades. Discovery
Optimus became increasingly withdrawn, demanding the other Maximals leave him alone and spending all of his time with the Oracle, experiencing visions. Descent Confused by what the Oracle was showing him, he nonetheless persevered, and was rewarded with a meeting with Rhinox in a vision. Unfortunately their talk did not go well, Rhinox siding with Megaton's ideal of a technological Cybertron and openly hostile to the idea of reintroducing the organic. Optimus awoke and rejoined his fellow Maximals, who had awakened Rhinox's spark within Tankor, only to find the same thing Optimus had—their old friend had changed. Primal confided to the others that he had realised the true mission which the Oracle intended for them to carry out: to make Cybertron wholly organic once more. Apocalypse
While they were in search of the fruit tree Nightscream had originally lead them to, the Maximals were attacked by the Vehicons and Nightscream kidnapped. During the rescue, Nightscream discovered a cave lined with fossils, and Primal realised this proved that Cybertron was once organic. Survivor Optimus and Cheetor would continue to butt heads over what course of action they should take. The discovery of a green goo from Cybertron's core which caused plants to spontaneously sprout appeared to justify Optimus's opinion they should concentrate on restoring the organic to the planet. When a subsequent attack by Tankor left Nightscream in a technomatter state, more disagreement over the proper course of action ensued. They eventually stole a mole drone at great risk, and Optimus was able to guide it downwards, unleashing a torrent of green goo which cured everyone. Following the victory, Cheetor told Optimus that he refused to be treated like a kid any more, but grudgingly accepted Optimus's leadership. The Key
Believing Tankor to be dead, the Maximals were finally able to hold a memorial for Rhinox. Tankor, however, still functioned and plotted to have Megatron use the Key to Vector Sigma to purge all organic life from Cybertron. Hoping to force Megatron's hand, Tankor surreptitiously provided Rattrap with a catalyst to increase the plant growth, and Optimus and the other Maximals subsequently had to rescue Rattrap from the marauding vines. Though Optimus turned down Cheetor's suggestion that they use the rapidly-growing vines as a weapon, Cheetor went ahead and tried it anyway, almost spelling doom when the plan backfired. Quick work by Optimus saved the orchard, and he scolded Cheetor before breaking the news that he believed the Oracle had been tampered with. The Catalyst
Despite the apparent tampering, Optimus continued to follow the Oracle's visions, leading the Maximals to the Plasma Energy Chamber, capable of wiping out everything technological on the planet. The Oracle had bestowed on Optimus the power to open the chamber, however Cheetor managed to talk him out of opening the chamber outright, and the Maximals set about finding a way to deactivate the Keys instead. Rattrap, hacking into Megatron's computer, was disabled by Tankor. Optimus sensed something was wrong and rushed in to confront Megatron directly. As the pair fought, Megatron revealed the defeat of the other Maximals, but Optimus wouldn't yield, attempting to reformat his opponent. Tankor arrived in time to use a Key to turn Optimus into technomatter, lecturing the Maximal on sporting behavior, only to be promptly captured by Megatron, who took the opportunity to gloat over Optimus. In desperation, the Maximal leader finally opened the Plasma Energy Chamber. At the same time, Megatron ordered his Tank drones to fire the Key, the energies released creating a planetwide storm. Optimus's body began to crumble before his eyes. End of the Line
Though his body was destroyed, Primal's spirit was transported into the Matrix, the Transformers' afterlife. As he and Megatron fought in the void, he pondered if this was his destiny, to fight his nemesis for eternity. Before him, he saw the faces of his comrades, the Maximals, berate him for his poor leadership and near-genocidal behavior. He then found himself back on prehistoric Earth, where a red-eyed copy of Primal attacked him, scolding him for his fanatical behavior. Floating in space, he saw the collective sparks of Cybertron.
Meanwhile, the other Maximals journeyed downwards once more, speaking to Optimus via the Oracle. Primal refused to lead the Maximals, asking only for their forgiveness, but they merely told him there was nothing to forgive—without his guidance, they'd never have made it this far. Preparing to become one with the Allspark, Optimus realized his mistake: his mission was not to create an organic Cybertron, but to restore the balance between the technological and the organic. As he chose life and was returned to the other Maximals, the Oracle congratulated him for passing his greatest test. A forest of technorganic trees sprang up in the chamber around the Maximals, as the Oracle vanished.
Believing their next task was to find the missing sparks, the Maximals headed for the Council Citadel, only for a giant head with the likeness of Megatron to hove into view. Fallout When the giant head failed to do anything, Optimus attempted to contact Megatron's spark directly, but received only confused images which didn't even come from a sentient mind. Meanwhile the other Maximals had discovered two more beings roaming the city—an intelligent and sensitive wolf named Noble and a bestial dragon dubbed Savage. With Primal's help, they trapped Savage, only to discover that Savage and Noble were one and the same—a Transformer with two beast modes. Optimus vowed to do all he could to help their new friend. Savage Noble
Optimus ordered Noble and Nightscream remain outside the Council Citadel while he and the others ventured inside to look for clues to the lost sparks. His orders were, of course, disregarded, and it soon transpired that Noble was actually Megatron, attempting to access his control harness. After using a spark extractor on himself, Megatron took control of giant floating head, reactivating the drone armies and forcing the Maximals underground. Prometheus Unbound While rescuing Nightscream, who'd gone to try and find Noble, Optimus and Cheetor were pulled up to the floating head with a tractor beam. Megatron demanded information on the Oracle, attempting to take it from them by force, but they were rescued by Silverbolt, who has been reformatted from Jetstorm by Blackarachnia. In Darkest Knight
Though the Maximals were happy to have Silverbolt back, Optimus was reminded of the loss of Rhinox. Their introspection was interrupted by an attack—Megatron unleashed a variation of the Hate Plague on them, infecting all of the Maximals but Optimus, who was scooped up by the Megatron's floating head. Inside, Optimus and Megatron argued at length on the topic of free will versus the harmony of one mind. Seeing his Maximals furiously infighting, Optimus returned to them to try to quell their anger, only to be infected himself. Still, with his help, the Maximals were able to overcome the effects of the virus. Despite their success through teamwork, Primal believed that the virus had only magnified existing tensions in the group. A Wolf in the Fold
Down in the technorganic orchard, the plants were faring poorly and beginning to wither. Worried, Primal wondered if the orchard was to be in vain. When an extraterrestrial shuttle crashed into Cybertron, Optimus led the Maximals toward the site. Discovering organic matter inside, the team was attacked by a strange plant-creature which headed for the orchard. Following it there, Optimus reformatted the creature into a techno-organic plant. The plant introduced itself as Botanica, a fellow Maximal scientist, and revealed that the only problem the orchard had was incorrect lighting. Home Soil
Optimus's depression about their inability to locate the missing sparks was interrupted by a vision, cluing him in to the fact that something was amiss. In fact, Megatron had taken two of the sparks and created two new Vehicon generals, Obsidian and Strika, who subsequently almost bested the Maximals in combat. The timely intervention of Botanica allowed the Maximals to escape, but Optimus vowed not to let Megatron violate any more sparks. The Strike Another vision lead Optimus to believe the sparks were being moved. He and Nightscream ventured deep underground to the lost great city of Iacon. There Optimus encountered a giant hologram of Optimus Prime, however it turned out to be a trick on the part of Megatron, who forcibly extracted the Oracle access codes from Primal. As Primal later revealed, he had allowed it to happen so that he could access Megatron's systems and find out the location of the missing sparks. The Search
The Maximals infiltrated the Megatron's giant head, finally finding the lost sparks. They found themselves bound by metal tentacles as Megatron's spark began consuming their prize. Horrified, Optimus implored the sparks to resist, but to no avail. When Megatron killed Noble, Nightscream was moved to turn his sonic attack on Megatron, stopping their foe as he was on the verge of ripping the sparks from the Maximals' bodies. Megatron thus defeated, Rattrap managed to switch the plummeting Grand Mal to manual control, allowing Optimus to halt its descent. The Maximals later held a memorial for Noble and Primal gave a eulogy. The Seige
The Maximals celebrated Megatron's defeat, with Optimus assuring the others he could confirm Megatron was definitely dead through virtue of the link to the Oracle which the two shared. However Megatron was not dead, existing as a free-floating spark and though Primal initially welcomed Obsidian and Strika to the Maximal team, they abandoned the cause when Megatron turned up, trapped in a Diagnostic Drone thanks to Rattrap's handiwork. Spark of Darkness
In control of the Grand Mal and the sparks within, the Maximals failed to convince Optimus they should give the sparks new bodies. He was worried it would leave the spark vulnerable to recapture by Megatron, and they needed to reformat Cybertron first. With Megatron back in control of the drone armies, the Maximals soon found themselves under siege in the giant head anyway. Rattrap's gamble to save Botanica's life backfired, leaving them vulnerable to the drones, who managed to penetrate the head's shields. Despite the best efforts of the Maximals, the ship plunged to the ground. The Downward Spiral Down, but not out, the Maximals began preparing their defenses for the impending Vehicon assault. The shields did not hold long, and the Maximals found themselves fighting against hordes of drones. Outnumbered, the Maximals used spark power bestowed on them by the Oracle to decimate the drones, until Megatron took the Oracle from them. Finally, Optimus was confronted by Megatron in a new form—a replica of Primal's own "Optimal Optimus" body—while the other Maximals had their sparks ripped from their bodies. When Legends Fall
Enraged, Optimus struck out at Megatron, and their battle raged across the city. As the moved from location to location, Optimus found the bodies of his Maximal friends, and found the technorganic orchard ravaged. Returning above ground, Megatron unveiled a huge throne, drawing all of the sparks into himself, despite Primal's protests. Megatron began to reformat Cybertron's core using the Key to Vector Sigma, but Optimus managed to distract him long enough to throw him off balance. Together, the two enemies plunged into the heart of Cybertron and ushered in the reformatting that returned the deactivated population to life and gave birth to the new, technorganic Cybertron. As the surviving Maximals looked out over their new home, Primal and the Oracle spoke to Cheetor, and Primal departed with the words "Transform, and Transcend", as his Spark joined the Matrix. Seeds of the Future
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
15 Go! Go!
Cloud
Beast Wars Diorama Story
Some time after Starscream fled from prehistorical Earth, Optimus Primal and a group of Maximals, including Cheetor, Dinobot, Rhinox, and a time-displaced Cohrada, battled a contingent of Predacons comprising Megatron, Waspinator, Blackarachnia, Archadis, and Wolfang in a forest. After all the Transformers transformed into robot mode, Megatron attacked Optimus Primal with the jaws of his T. rex head-hand. Primal blocked the attack with his dual Cyber Blades and then fought Megatron off with his Mega Blasters. Optimus Primal Chapter Though Primal blocked his "Tyranno Fang" attack, Megatron was able to counter by shooting a "Laser Buster" from the mouth of his T. rex head-hand. Megatron Chapter
Some time into the battle, a warp opened, bringing with it Jazz, Ironhide, Starscream, Optimus Prime, and Ratchet, who were all from another universe. Tigatron and Gimlet also joined the battle, and the Autobots and Maximals teamed up against the combined Predacon and Decepticon forces. Primal and Prime punched Starscream at the same time and then shook hands to commemorate their accomplishment of teamwork. The Maximals and Ratchet looked upon with approval. Tigatron Chapter Blackout later appeared and battled Optimus Primal during the next infraction. As the battled raged, the Megatron from the other universe came in through the warp. Gimlet Chapter
Megatron brought along Brawl, and the two Megatrons combined their troops into a fearsome force against the Autobots and Maximals. Optimus Primal battled the Predacon Megatron and then Blackout in the ensuing skirmish. The Maximals' savior came in the form of Motorarm, who then went on to battle Tarantulas. Primal battled Megatron and Blackout again, and the two factions then took formation against each other with the intention of combining their energies to attack the opposing side. With Motorarm leading the charge, the Maximals and the Autobots attacked first. Motorarm Chapter
Later, through the power of energon, both Optimus Primal and Megatron attained the giant "Energon Power Mode". The energies coursing in their bodies granted both improved abilities and the two battled. TM-SP Character Data File
Beast Wars II cartoon
- Voice actor: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese)
In order to counter the threat of Majin Zarak, the injured Magnaboss activated an alien teleport gate and transported Optimus Primal from Energoa prior to the explosion of the Planet Buster to Gaea. Upon arriving, Primal helped the injured Maximal to his feet and immediately issued a challenge to the Predacon Emperor of Destruction, Galvatron: "You think you've won, but we won't be defeated. Let us settle this. Come to point B-2."
As the enraged Galvatron headed to point B-2 to meet the challenge, Optimus Primal found what was left of the soundly defeated Lio Convoy, buried beneath tons of rock and debris after a crushing battle with Majin Zarak. Communicating to him via cyberspace, Primal encouraged his companion to muster up the burning justice needed to dig himself out and face Majin Zarak down a second time. Spurred by the words of the strange glowing stranger, Lio Convoy broke free from his tomb to be greeted by Magnaboss, who had dug out the other injured Maximals who had also been defeated.
Optimus Primal then made his grand, melodramatic entrance from atop a cliff with the sun to his back, bathing him in a holy glow. The Maximals stood in awe, regarding him as a "legendary commander". Joining forces with Lio Convoy, the pair of Supreme Commanders then went about developing a strategy to defeat Majin Zarak.
Point B-2 happened to be a narrow canyon, making Zarak's massive, bulky body useless in battle. In addition to that, Diver and Scuba did some research and learned that their foe had a third eye where all its nerve endings were clustered; a good hit in the eye would destroy the behemoth for good.
As Majin Zarak sprang to sentience and ejected Galvatron, Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy held hands, synchronized their Energon Matrices and transformed themselves into Flash Lio Convoy and Burning Convoy. Transforming to monkey mode, Burning Convoy jumped onto Flash Lio Convoy's lion mode's back and rode his buddy up to Majin Zarak's face. Leaping off his back, he then transformed back to robot mode and landed a mighty robot punch into Zarak's third eye. Weakened by the blow, Zarak was rendered immobile. Burning Convoy and Flash Lio Convoy then hovered together and with the power of their twin Energon Matrices unleashed the "Double Matrix Blaster". The absurdly powerful attack blew straight through Zarak's head, causing the monster to explode and die.
With the battle won, Optimus Primal returned to the alien teleport gate and asked to be sent home. The Maximals didn't want him to leave, but he insisted that he still had a Beast War on Energoa to win. He then assured them that they were all such good soldiers, they didn't need his help to win their war. As Primal went through the gate, the Maximals then destroyed the device behind him so that its power could never be used to destroy the universe or burden it with trite crossovers ever again. Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!
Robotmasters online comic
After a suspicious period of inactivity during the Beast Wars, Optimus Primal personally went out to seek Megatron and found the Blasty Zone, which took him to Earth in the year 2004. Emerging from the time-space distortion, Primal found R-Blade under attack from Decepticons. Their banter revealed to Primal that Megatron was in this time period, and the Maximal scared the Decepticons away. Enter the War! Optimus Primal Optimus Primal later teamed up with Bound Rogue and helped defend Victory Leo from Starscream and other Decepticons. At the end of the battle, Primal joined Optimus Prime's Autobots. Bonds Stronger than Steel
On a tip from Sideways, Optimus Primal and Optimus Prime were led by Road Rocket to a solitarium horde on Chaar. However, Sideways turned out to be with the Decepticons and had set up a trap for the Autobots at the solitarium. The Autobots survived, but the Decepticons ran off with the solitarium. Defend the Solitarium! Later, in 2005, Optimus Primal joined R-Blade and Delta Seeker in an aerial patrol. They came across Starscream, X-Gunner, and Wingstun, who challenged the Autobots to a race. Optimus Primal proved to be the slowest competitor, but the race was won by R-Blade. Through Sea and Sky: The World's Fastest Race Optimus Primal later intervened with Optimus Prime when a confused Lio Convoy attacked Victory Saber. Once Lio Convoy was convinced of the good nature of the Autobots of the time, the four Supreme Commanders used the power of the Matrix of Leadership and the Energon Matrices to attack and send the Decepticons fleeing. Together, the 4 Great Supreme Commanders
When Reverse Convoy was rescued by the Autobots and claimed to have been attacked by the original Megatron at Sherman Dam, Optimus Primal joined Optimus Prime, Reverse Convoy, Mirage, and Victory Leo to Sherman Dam to confirm Reverse Convoy's story. Strategic Meeting: The Mysterious New Warrior It turned out to be a Decepticon trap, and the five were incapacitated. To lure the other Autobots to the Dam, Reverse Convoy sent out an SOS call, which Star Saber and Lio Convoy answered. Reverse Convoy shortly revealed himself to be Rebirth Megatron, the original Megatron reborn! Nevertheless, Star Saber freed the bound Autobots and Rebirth Megatron destroyed the Dam to cover his escape. The Dark Emperor of Destruction, Reborn Rebirth Megatron joined with Beast Megatron and the two led a force to make one final attack on the Autobots for more solitarium. The battle went on for three days and three nights till the Megatrons were finally defeated. With the power of solitarium, Optimus Primal and Beast Megatron returned to their rightful time. And Then
Robotmasters pack-in comic
Megatron, through the Blasty Zone, arrived in Earth in the year 2004 and led the Decepticons of the era against Optimus Prime's Autobots. Following Megatron through the Blasty Zone, Optimus Primal leapt to the Autobots' rescue and joined with Optimus Prime to form a united front against Megatron. The New Battle Begins!
Later, Optimus Primal and Optimus Prime attempted to push Gigant Bomb and Smokesniper away from Bound Rogue and Mirage. Their efforts did little, as Gigant Bomb was powered by a piece of solitarium in his chest. Star Saber and Victory Leo soon came to the rescue, slicing the solitarium piece into two and sending the Decepticon duo into retreat. The two new Autobots then joined the Optimuses in their struggle against Megatron. The Victory Warriors Enter!!
Robotmasters 3D diorama manga
Optimus Primal was part of an Autobot force helping in construction at Athens in preparation of the Olympics. Gigant Bomb and Smokesniper, sent by Megatron, attacked, but the two Decepticons soon discovered that they were outnumbered. After turning themselves over to the Autobots for mercy, they were put to work in helping out Athens. Robotmasters Vol. 1
While on a mission in the Congo, Optimus Primal received a message from Optimus Prime about a strange frequency detected in the jungle. Investigating, Primal found Starscream building a Decepticon airbase. After using vines to tie up Starscream, Optimus Primal used his Blast Jet Pu~nch on him, thwarting his dastardly plot. Robotmasters Vol. 2
Primal borne witness to Reverse Convoy's arrival at the Autobot base and Starscream chasing after him to stop him from revealing the location of the secret Decepticon base. Primal joined in the fight against Starscream, but it was Reverse Convoy who ultimately sent him fleeing. At the conclusion of the battle, Reverse Convoy agreed to lead the Autobots to the Decepticon base. Robotmasters Vol. 9 It turned out that Reverse Convoy was the reborn G1 Megatron and that he led the Autobot leaders to a trap that sapped them of their energies. Thankfully, they were saved by the intervention of Lio Convoy and another Optimus Prime. Together with the new Optimus Prime's Galaxy Cannon, G1 Optimus Prime, Lio Convoy, Victory Saber, and Optimus Primal blasted away the Decepticons. Robotmasters Vol. 11
Robotmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Yūto Kazama (Japanese)
Optimus Primal chased Megatron into a time warp to Earth in 2004. There, he met and joined forces with Optimus Prime during a battle against Megatron and his Decepticons. Together, the Optimuses' special attack was a massive energon whirlwind, the Double Convoy Tornado. Fight! The Group of the Strongest Commanders!
Optimus Primal was later part of an Autobot force battling the Decepticons in a city. When he was assisted by a new arrival, Reverse Convoy, Optimus Primal met him for introductions, and the Convoy explained that he wanted to assist in the fight against Megatron. However, Reverse Convoy soon shot Star Saber and Victory Leo out of the sky and revealed himself to be Rebirth Megatron. Optimus Primal was shocked, and Rebirth Megatron joined forces with Beast Megatron, creating the Double Megatron Tornado to counter the Double Convoy Tornado. But the Autobot tornado emerged victorious with the addition of Lio Convoy's Lio Typhoon Arrow, creating the Triple Convoy Tornado Link attack and sending the Megatrons into retreat. The Lio Convoy Typhoon Enters
Beast Wars Reborn
After their death in the core of Cybertron, both Megatron and Optimus Primal awoke inside a bizarre temple-like spaceship which was hurtling through space. Neither had any memory of who they were or how they got there, only of their own names and a feeling of discomfort between one another. The pair went about investigating the ship in search of answers. While Megatron's memory was lost, his personality remained mostly intact: he was more concerned with seizing control of the ship before Primal did in order to gain the upper hand.
They eventually found a data log and discovered that their sparks had been taken and they were reborn into new bodies (unbeknownst to them, bodies identical to their original forms). However, their memories were intentionally not uploaded into their new bodies. While searching the log they discovered that the ship's main power source was a Golden Disk lodged within a giant pillar. Megatron immediately raced to obtain the Disk and Primal followed him. The closer they got to the disk, the more the ship attempted to thwart their advance by manipulating its atmospheric conditions.
Once they reached the chamber, the ship's environment suddenly morphed to that of a decaying planet littered with the corpses of robots. The corpses came to life and began shambling toward them, intent on eating their sparks. They made short work of the zombies, leaving Megatron to obtain the Golden Disk and Primal with a feeling that he shouldn't entirely trust Megatron. This was confirmed quite quickly when Megatron discovered a part of the ship capable of turning anything—or anyone—into pure antimatter and announced his intention to use it as a weapon. (Also, Primal somehow got the body of his predecessor after Megatron started fiddling with the ship's computer.) As the two of them prepared to start fighting, a strange Transformer interrupted them, causing the entire ship to shut itself off (and giving Primal his old body back in the process). This Transformer introduced himself as Soundblaster, announcing that the ship's power over space and time was his own—and that he wished to pass it to Megatron.
From another dimension beyond time and space, Primus recognized that something was amiss and sent Vector Prime to meet Primal and Megatron within the spaceship. The Mysterious Temple in Space He arrived just in time to confront Soundblaster. Referring to him by his true name of Logos Prime, Vector Prime questioned the Ancient's motives, only for Soundblaster to repeat his intention of passing his powers to Megatron. Master of the Game Planetfall The Extraordinary Reformat
The Protector
Ask Vector Prime
After the conclusion of the Beast Wars, the victorious Maximals left prehistoric Earth, travelling forward in the time to their home in future Cybertron. While they were passing through the timezone of the early 21st century, their shuttle was struck by temporal interference-waves caused by Binaltech Ravage’s alteration of history, causing it to drift into the Beta stream of the BT World. In this splinter reality, the Maximals were observed by Unicron, who shattered their shuttle with his “Stare of Chaos” and scattered the entire crew, including Megatron, into Transwarp space. The Autobots of BT World attempted to repair the timeline, but proved to be impossible, even by their standards.
Fortunately for history, when the Alternity repaired the timeline and restored the OG World as a timeline discreet from the BT World, they also restored the future of Primax 496.22 Alpha, in which Primal's Maximals had returned to their Cybertron and participated in the Spark War. Unfortunately, this left the “shipwrecked” Primal surplus to requirements, a temporal anomaly without a home—a rare but occasional risk time-travelers sometimes face, as can be observed in the Offworld Zone on Axiom Nexus. Sympathizing with Primal, but recognizing that his existence posed a danger to causality, the Alternity determined to offer him a greater purpose within the Multiverse as a means of atoning for the partial sense of responsibility they harbored over his plight.
Meanwhile, agents of Alternity detected the "shipwrecked" Megatron, who, hurled from the shattered shuttle, had become stranded in the future time period of Viron 102.0 Beta. As was the case with his counterpart in the OG World, this Megatron also schemed to conquer the Viron Cybertron, joining forces with Cryotek, a very ruthless Predacon, to better learn about the new world he found himself in. The Alternity shepherded the shipwrecked Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Rattrap, and Silverbolt to this dimension, then activated and directed the Oracle to serve as Primal's guide in the “AllSpark Battles” that followed. As the battles progressed, Primal took numerous forms, his final, ultimate configuration equipped with sky-soaring jets, for attacking the towering form that his arch-enemy had taken: “Megahead Megatron”. “Air Attack” Optimus Primal fought with his all power and spirit, and finally triumphed over Megatron and his Vehicons.
In response to Megatron's defeat, Cryotek launched his own plan. Like Megatron, Cryotek sought mechanical purity, but in a different and much more drastic way as he believed that Transformers’ sparks were NOT their life essence, but rather symbiotic, leech-like creatures, the Parasites (his thinking no doubt influenced by his own mutated, humanoid-shaped spark). He planned to eliminate all sparks from Transformers’ bodies, replacing them with physical operating systems which he had created, based partially on Megatron's own research into shell programs and spark extraction. Ominously, he had already conducted successful field tests on his own men.
Cryotek knew to be cautious in dealing with the ones who had defeated Megatron, and settled on hit and run tactics, using Megatron's Transwarp technology to attack the Autobots sporadically trough time and space with his stealthy Automatic De-Sparkers. Needing allies, he contacted Galvatron—then active on early 21st century Earth—who offered him refuge aboard his ship, the Megastar, in exchange for a body upgrade. By Cryotek's hand, the Predacon leader became “Megatron Megabolt”.
Meanwhile, hundreds of years in the future, Optimus Primal found the victims of Cryotek’s horrendous experiments and resolved to stop him, no matter the cost. Having already perceived that a greater power was behind the Oracle, Primal demanded it send him after Cryotek; the Alternity revealed their true form to Primal and agreed to his request, if he would join the ranks of their elite agents, the Protectors, in return. Primal accepted the offer and was sent to Earth with a single guide from that time period, who happened to be the future version of former Spy Changer, Mirage, now known as Mirage GT. To minimize the risk of paradox, Optimus could only assume a corporeal form to engage with Cryotek; against the threat posed by Megabolt Maximus—Fortress Maximus under Megatron's control—Primal could only act as a spirit guide. The battle was very tough, but in the end Prime and Primal emerged victorious, with Megatron and Cryotek decisively defeated. And so, Optimus Primal’s eternal missions as a Protector had begun. Ask Vector Prime
Controverse
Story of Binaltech
Shortly after Optimus Primal became a member of the Protectors, there was a disruption to the space-time continuum caused by Ravage threatened the existence of the universal stream that was the Alternity's point of origin. They dispatched Primal to see to its, and hence their own, preservation.
Optimus Primal's spark emerged in the designated universe in 2005, in Doctor Arkeville's laboratory, where he immediately possessed a black Binaltech body frame created by the doctor in the image of Optimus Prime. Primal proceeded to teleport to Dinobot Island, where the Autobots had tried to undo the changes Ravage had wrought upon history with Operation: Distant Thunder. As the existence of the altered timeline was necessary for the Alternity to come into being, Primal used his powers over time and space to both restore the original reality while simultaneously preserving the altered timeline as its own distinct parallel universe, known as Primax 903.0 Beta, or the "BT World". In the wake of this great event, Primal met up with Optimus Prime's Autobots, and was able to drop a few cryptic hints about the future that awaited them before the personality data Arkeville had programmed into the black Prime body shell finally asserted itself, forcing Primal's spark out of the body. Binal Time
Some time later, at the same time as the Autobots were trying to shut down the rogue Binaltech projects happening around the world, they also began a series of experiments under Primal's direction that would eventually lead to their evolution into the Alternity. Chief among these was the Timaeus Project, which would generate the Alternium the Alternity's bodies were compposed of. While Arcee was participating in that project, the Autobots prepared to transfer Primal's spark into a Binaltech body to restore him to mobility. Unfortunately, Shockwave remotely took control of the Autosoldier frame before Primal's spark could be downloaded into it, and the Autosoldiers began to run amok inside Autobot City. Arcee attempted to come to Primal's aid, but when she exited the Timaeus Project's high-speed racetrack without initiating proper slowdown procedures, her body was crushed by the kinetic energy. In her unconscious state, Primal spoke directly to her spark, telling her to forget about him and to instead protect the project and its scientists, so vital were they were to the future. Reluctantly, Arcee did so, allowing the Shockwave-controlled Autosoldiers to make off with Primal's spark. Unfinished Business, Part 3
The Autobots regrouped and went after Shockwave's agents, tracking Nemesis Prime and the Decepticons to Australia. Optimus Prime faced off against Nemesis Prime. but Prime found himself outmatched by Nemesis Prime's power, augmented by a synthetic Matrix he had created. During the battle, Arcee liberated Primal from the Decepticons, and he then meerged his spark with Optimus Prime—something Prime had vague memories of experiencing previously. The power resulting from this fusion enabled Optimus Prime to deflect Nemesis Prime's attack, ultimately destroying the clone. Unfinished Business, Part 4
Alternity
Following the Decepticons' defeat in Australia, the alien Quintessons placed a quadrant lock on Earth's solar system in order to trap the powerful Binaltech Autobots. This lock left Primal unable to leave the dimension, and he remained on Earth for the next 900,000 years, watching as the Autobots steadily evolved into the Alternity and then broke the lock. During this time, Primal was finally given a new Binaltech body, a replica of Nemesis Prime's form.
When the Alternity became aware of the Planicrons, a race of two-dimensional beings who were attempting to become higher-dimensional life-forms, they concluded that the gateway through which they needed to pass in order to evolve themselves was located somewhere on the BT World. Primal and Grimlock met the Alternity envoys who arrived on the planet, and informed them that they had located the doorway: it was the circuit diagram for the Critias Gate, a super-dimensional reactor the Autobots had been experimenting with at the same time as the Timaeus Project. With a little help from Vector Prime, the gate was set up and the Planicrons passed through it, evolving into higher-dimensional begins and taking the Alternity's place as the defenders of time and space. Alternation
Notes
- According to a guide book published in conjunction with the Beast Wars II theatrical film, Optimus Primal's original body had the following technical specifications. The veracity of these numbers in relation to anything actually featuring Primal, of course, is questionable.
- Height: 2.8m (9.19 feet).
- Weight: 2 tons.
- Running Speed: 60km (37.28 mph, beast mode), 50km (31.07 mph, robot mode).
- Airspeed: Mach 7.
- Maximum Power Output: 1,000,000 horsepower.
- The same height and weight specs were previously featured on Primal's Japanese trading card.
- In his Transmetal form, Optimus Primal's spark chamber is on a hinge in his chest to swing down to the opening in his abdomen. In his Optimal Optimus form, he stored Prime's spark in his vehicle mode cockpit.
- According to the diagram of Optimus Primal on the catalog packed with "TM-SP DX Convoy", his spark chamber is Matrix-shaped. Oh lord.
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Character stubs missing fiction
- Alternators characters
- Alternity characters
- Autobot leaders
- Beast Machines Maximals
- Beast Wars Maximals
- Beast Wars II Maximals
- Children of Primus
- Cloud characters
- Dimension hoppers
- Matrix bearers
- Maximal leaders
- Robotmasters Autobots
- Robots in Disguise (2001) characters
- Transformers with three modes
- Transmetals
- Universe Autobots
